Golden Globes: Ricky Gervais Won't Try to Ruin Everyone's Night

"I've got to go out there and pretend that I've got swagger," says the host of the upcoming awards show.

His first three stints hosting the Golden Globes may have resulted in headlines and shocked gasps following his supposed skewering of Hollywood's elite, but Ricky Gervais — returning to the gig for the fourth time in January after a three-year hiatus — thinks it's a "weird myth" that he ever said anything overtly outrageous.

"I didn't at all, it was half five, it was network TV, I didn't break any laws," he tells The Hollywood Reporter from the set of his latest feature film, The Office spinoff Life on the Road. "So I think it's a strange myth that follows me around that I'm a shock comedian."

But while the British comedian claims that he does genuinely worry about hurting people's feelings, he also admits that it's part of his role as Golden Globes host to put on an act in front of the camera.

"I've got to go out there and pretend that I've got swagger," he tells THR. "And I've got to be an outsider, and I've got to stick it to the man. I've got to be court jester. I've got to have a go at NBC and the Hollywood Foreign Press and all the billionaires."

Gervais' intended audience, he says, aren't the A-listers in the room, but those watching at home.

"There's nothing in it for them, they're not winning awards," he says. "So I think that that I've got to try to make it more of a spectator sport. But I'm not going to try to undermine the moral fabric of America! It's not: I'm going to ruin all your f—ing nights, you f—ers! I'd rather they laugh, but if they gasp, that's good, too."

As for the Jan. 10 event, Gervais says he's written eight jokes so far of which "four I can do," despite there not being quite so many obvious targets as previous years.